Punched by Social, Now What?

Read Time: 2min

I’ve been there. In fact, I just experienced it the other day. I read a Facebook private message and boom! There was the instant feeling of being punched in the gut. I don’t like that feeling.

Have you experienced something like that before?

So what do you do in that situation? How can you pull yourself out of the gutter and not let the rest of your day be affected?

Now worries. I’ve got you covered with some easy strategies.

1. Wazzup Feelings
Don’t hide from your feelings. Embrace them. Acknowledge them. Tell them hello. It’s important to understand where they come from so you can move on to more desirable feelings by choice. Your choice.

Let’s use my Facebook example from above.

It was my thoughts about the message (circumstance) that was causing my punched in the gut feeling. There was no physical punch thrown at me. My feelings came directly from my thoughts about the circumstance.

The solution, in this situation, is to change your thoughts. When you are ready, you can kick those negative thoughts and feelings to the curb. Yo, it’s time to go!

2. Calm the Snow Globe
The best way to change your thoughts is to dive into meditation. I like to use standing meditation myself. Find a practice that works best for you.

The exercise is to calm your thoughts as if you were trying to calm the snowflakes in a snow globe. With a little practice, your thoughts will quickly disappear.

Those flakes in the globe are like your thoughts racing around in your head. During meditation focus only on your breathing. Do not pay any attention to the random thoughts in your head.

Breathe in and breathe out as long as it takes to clear your mind, so thoughts are no longer racing around.

3. Attitude of Gratitude
Life doesn’t happen to you. It happens for you, which isn’t easy to hear. It’s a truth bomb. Boom!

Exit each meditation session with some deep gratitude for the experiences around you, both good and bad. Those experiences shape who you are, which is a reason to be grateful. You can’t change the past. Today is what matters.

Challenge yourself to turn gratitude into a game and come up with new things to be grateful for each day. End each session of gratitude with an expression of love for those around you.

Back to my example.

By guiding myself through these strategies, I went from feeling bad to feeling good in a less than 30 minutes.

If I were to read the same Facebook message, it would no longer have a negative effect on me. I now have a clear mind, and I”m capable of taking on new challenges.

Social punch to the gut. No worries. It was a great opportunity for me to practice what I teach; thought work, meditation, and gratitude.

I am grateful for the experience as it inspired me to create a helpful video and this blog post.

High fives and knuckles hugs,
Jace

p.s. Here is a video I was inspired to make right after I pulled myself out of the gutter.

12 thoughts on “Punched by Social, Now What?”

I had a similar situation last year, and handled it with less grace…. But I blogged about the experience — and I received a lot of support, and just as much supportive “tough love.” I learned a lot, and now I know better than to let stuff like that get to me. I grew a lot from the experience, and am grateful for it.

Now I try to be more mindful of why that sort of thing gets to me — and as you said, it says more about me than the other person….

That happened to me recently. I read a message and kind of panicked. I forced myself to take a breath and think about the other person’s point of view. Turns out, it was a situation that just needed clarity. After a few questions to the other person, I figured out it wasn’t what I feared at all. Thank goodness I took that step back and thought for a few minutes before responding!